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Twilio Super SIM

twilio.com

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Re: Twilio Super SIM

#31

Post by lol768 »

What's with the poor data pricing? These plans seem like a non-starter for _any_ application that's remotely data intensive. At $50 / month you're going to get a total of 4GB in the USA. That's just unworkable for streaming video for e.g. remote CCTV applications.

It seems like if you're doing anything interesting that uses more than insignificant amounts of data (beyond e.g. reporting GPS coordinates) you're better off taking out a business contract with a mobile network and using the roaming allowances built in there. E.g. you can get 3x the 4GB data that was billed at $50 by taking out a £15 business SIM contract from Three which incidentally will give you up to 1TB in the UK.

Re: Twilio Super SIM

#32

Post by lol768 »

sequence7 wrote: post #17
untog wrote: post #9

This is very cool tech, but it seems like a niche use-case. It's not made for consumers, and the vast majority of IoT devices barely move, let alone between countries. But , if I were working for a haulage company and was interested in tracking, say, truck location, speed etc across the whole of Europe I could see this being a great way to do it.

> But, if I were working for a haulage company and was interested in tracking, say, truck location, speed etc across the whole of Europe I could see this being a great way to do it. If you wanted to do that in the EU you just need a sim card with data from any EU country. EU rules on roaming mean that your sim will work across the EU just as it does from its home country. I agree this would be a great use case if you…

Note that the EU rules apply differently to data than they do to voice and SMS usage.

A provider offering unlimited data in the UK can cap your data usage in Belgium or charge e.g. £8 / GB after you use 20GB of data.

Re: Twilio Super SIM

#33

Post by wongarsu »

ignoramous wrote: post #25

This is great (one plan worldwide, but in places with weak currency like India, paying in dollars might turn out to be expensive), but overall isn't the industry moving in the direction of eSIMs (no physical SIM required)? Moreover, once OneWeb, Starlink and the like launch worldwide internet service, it might pretty much render the telecom industry as it is today irrelevant?

I think we can expect Starlink to have similar coverage to GPS: great in the country, useless in my bedroom in a multi-story building. Also the expected receiver size for Starlink is an order of magnitude bigger than the one for a cellular network.

For phones, tracking, etc the cellular network would still be superior. Something like a car might go with both starlink and cellular because anywhere where one is weak the other is likely to be strong.

Re: Twilio Super SIM

#34

Post by konart »

lol768 wrote: post #31

What's with the poor data pricing? These plans seem like a non-starter for _any_ application that's remotely data intensive. At $50 / month you're going to get a total of 4GB in the USA. That's just unworkable for streaming video for e.g. remote CCTV applications. It seems like if you're doing anything interesting that uses more than insignificant amounts of data (beyond e.g. reporting GPS coordinates) you're better…

>remote CCTV applications.

This is not for that kind of use case.

>Super SIM allows IoT devices to connect to multiple operators. Get instant global connectivity on a single SIM. >Your device can travel around the world using one SIM...

Think of a ballon traveling over Eurasia and sending back data.

Re: Twilio Super SIM

#35

Post by Moter8 »

sequence7 wrote: post #17
untog wrote: post #9

This is very cool tech, but it seems like a niche use-case. It's not made for consumers, and the vast majority of IoT devices barely move, let alone between countries. But , if I were working for a haulage company and was interested in tracking, say, truck location, speed etc across the whole of Europe I could see this being a great way to do it.

> But, if I were working for a haulage company and was interested in tracking, say, truck location, speed etc across the whole of Europe I could see this being a great way to do it. If you wanted to do that in the EU you just need a sim card with data from any EU country. EU rules on roaming mean that your sim will work across the EU just as it does from its home country. I agree this would be a great use case if you…

The EU roaming rules are only valid for a certain time period.

I can't get a polish SIM card and use it for an entire year in Germany, for example.

Re: Twilio Super SIM

#36

Post by taf2 »

fermuch wrote: post #29

How is this different to Hologram[1] or EsEye[2]? Hologram seems to offer an api with as much access as twilio's (data usage report, switching between "networks" (what package you buy, which includes certain countries and pricing...) and monthly payment of a fleet of chips. I'm failing to see the added value of twilio, but the more competency the better! [1]: https://hologram.io/ [2]: https://www.eseye.com/

Does it provide voice connectivity?

Re: Twilio Super SIM

#37

Post by gz5 »

At scale, will the price get to a point at which this can be a second interface?

Maybe used as an OOB management plane interface for OTA updates, remote diagnostics etc? Perhaps used for some_other_use_cases in which second global interface would be useful?

Would there be isolation and security benefits to that type of second interface?

Re: Twilio Super SIM

#38

Post by gambiting »

Moter8 wrote: post #35
sequence7 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But, if I were working for a haulage company and was interested in tracking, say, truck location, speed etc across the whole of Europe I could see this being a great way to do it. If you wanted to do that in the EU you just need a sim card with data from any EU country. EU rules on roaming mean that your sim will work across the EU just as it does from its home country. I agree this would be a great use case if you…

The EU roaming rules are only valid for a certain time period. I can't get a polish SIM card and use it for an entire year in Germany, for example.

? Yes you can. I use a Polish SIM card(with Play) and use it all year round in UK, except for the 2-3 weeks or so when I'm back in Poland for holidays.

Re: Twilio Super SIM

#39

Post by sjtgraham »

fermuch wrote: post #29

How is this different to Hologram[1] or EsEye[2]? Hologram seems to offer an api with as much access as twilio's (data usage report, switching between "networks" (what package you buy, which includes certain countries and pricing...) and monthly payment of a fleet of chips. I'm failing to see the added value of twilio, but the more competency the better! [1]: https://hologram.io/ [2]: https://www.eseye.com/

I wish folks would abstain from making "how is this different to X?" comments. They add very little to the conversation.

Re: Twilio Super SIM

#40

Post by yaantc »

lol768 wrote: post #31

What's with the poor data pricing? These plans seem like a non-starter for _any_ application that's remotely data intensive. At $50 / month you're going to get a total of 4GB in the USA. That's just unworkable for streaming video for e.g. remote CCTV applications. It seems like if you're doing anything interesting that uses more than insignificant amounts of data (beyond e.g. reporting GPS coordinates) you're better…

> These plans seem like a non-starter for _any_ application that's remotely data intensive.

Yes, and this is by design. LTE NB-IoT is very different from the regular broadband LTE people are used to. It's made for devices that send a (short) message once in a while. Really, it's best to think about it as for small message oriented applications --- no data stream.

To be low cost, a NB-IoT has only one receive antenna not two (or more) for regular LTE. Also, to reach into basements and harsh conditions, NB-IoT supports many repetitions. In theory up to x2048 times regular LTE, although most networks won't go that high. This means that the spectral efficiency of NB-IoT is much, much lower than for regular LTE. One byte over the air can cost a lot of resources, but it's ok because it's made for application with very little data to transmit: a meter level, a position... The data plans telcos sell for NB-IoT will forbid using a lot of data, it's just too inefficient. What NB-IoT needs to be is 1) low cost and 2) low power. For a meter sending one report per day, one can target a lifetime of 10+ years for example.

So although NB-IoT can use the regular LTE channels, it really is a completely different kind of animal. LTE-M is similar, but a bit bigger / higher throughput. Still for small IoT applications, but with more data than NB-IoT can accomodate.

If NB-IoT is a scooter, regular LTE is a truck. If you can fill the truck, it's more efficient. If you can't, because all you have to deliver is a pizza, then a scooter is best. Use the right tool for the job.

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